By Chris King • Published: 12 Oct 2021 • 3:17
Young Europeans to be given 60,000 free train tickets by EU. image. creative commons
The European Commission (EC) announced this Monday, October 11, that it intends to offer 60,000 free train tickets to young Europeans. To qualify, they must be aged between 18 and 20, with the tickets allowing them to undertake a 30-day rail journey through the European Union (EU), either alone, or in groups of up to five people.
As reported by Efe, this initiative gives continuity to a program launched in 2018 and interrupted by the travel restrictions of the pandemic in the last two years.
For this reason, the Commission will allow not only those who turn 18 years of age to participate in the new round, but, exceptionally, those who were born between July 1, 2001, and December 31, 2003.
Tickets can be requested through the DiscoverEU website, between noon tomorrow, October 12, and noon on October 26.
Trips must be scheduled between February 2022 – coinciding with the European Year of Youth, which will take over from the European Year of the Train – and March 2023.
In a statement, the Community Executive said, “As the evolution of the pandemic is unknown, all travellers will be offered flexible reservations. To reinforce sustainable travel and support the European Green Deal, DiscoverEU participants will travel mainly by train”.
Each member state is assigned a number of travel passes, explained the statement, based on its population as a proportion of the total population of the European Union, although it did not provide further details. As an indication, in the previous initiative, Germany received 11,394 tickets, France 9,093, Italy 8,343, and Spain 6,496.
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Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com
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